Monday, July 9, 2001

Give yourself a gift

Consider all the things you do on a daily basis. Among those actions, there are numerous self-defeating ones, things you do over and over again just out of habit. Perhaps you eat a bowl of fattening ice cream when you get bored or stressed. Maybe you make cruel remarks to others just to get attention. Little self-defeating habits such as these may not seem like much, yet it is precisely their apparent insignificance which makes them so destructive. Because before long, without your even thinking about them, they add up.

So give yourself a priceless gift today. Identify one of those little self-defeating actions, and find a self-empowering action with which to permanently replace it. Replace the bowl of ice cream with a brisk walk around the block. Or replace the cruel comment with a sincere compliment.

Get your habits working for you rather than against you. Look closely at the negative, self-defeating ones. Why have you tolerated them this long? Because they fill a void and because you rarely think about them. So stop and think about them and the negativity they impose upon your life. Then kick them out and fill that void with more positive, empowering habits. You’ll find it’s one of the very best gifts you can ever give yourself.

— Ralph Marston

The will to achieve       Worth every difficulty

Copyright ©2001 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.